


Beautiful

by prettyface_lonelyheart



Series: Talbert Family Vignettes [2]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Domestic, Gen, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-24 01:12:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18159494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyface_lonelyheart/pseuds/prettyface_lonelyheart
Summary: It's hard to get over your insecurities, but sometimes a little (one) can go a long way.





	Beautiful

“Would you like a snack, sweetie?” Aria asked Florence.

“A _snack_?” the little girl’s face lit up. “Do we have muffins?”

Aria laughed and got up from the floor. “You really like those muffins, don’t you?”

Florence held her stuffed bunny up to her face, wiggling it from side to side to give it life.

“They’re good, mommy!” she said in a squeaky voice.

”Thank you, Cinny,” Aria addressed the bunny.

Florence jumped up and down in her seat, giggling.

The little brown bunny, adorned with a pink dress and pink bow between its tall ears, was given the name after a visit to grandma’s house.

Floyd’s mother baked cinnamon buns: regular sized for the adults and a mini version for her granddaughter.

Florence loved them so much that they began appearing in her drawings. When Aria asked what the brown crayon spirals were, Florence replied, “Cinny Buns.”

Around the same time, Aria took Florence to the mall. They went to the toy store, where Florence hauled around an armful of dolls, coloring supplies and stuffed animals.

“Which one do you want the most?” Aria asked when they got to the checkout counter.

After what felt like an hours-long process of elimination, Florence settled on the ballerina bunny: the first thing she picked off a shelf.

“I’ll go get the muffins,” Aria kissed the child’s head and went to the kitchen.

She got the plastic container on the counter and popped the lid off, uncovering the six blueberry muffins she baked earlier that day.

She put one muffin on a unicorn plate for Florence and went to grab one for herself, but stopped.

For a minute, she stared at the blue spots on the smooth domes and she was taken back to the mess hall at Camp Toccoa.

She ate the same amount of food the men and the other nurses did. Regardless, she was the only one to be tormented for eating. For _existing_. It got so bad, she had to take her meals outside.

_“Mommmy!”_

The singsong-y voice pulled Aria back to where she was now.

“Coming!” she responded, putting a muffin on the plate for herself.

She returned to Florence’s room with the two muffins, setting them on the small purple table.

“Yay! Come on, Cinny!” Florence skipped over and sat in one of the child-sized chairs, placing the bunny on her lap.

“Eat over the plate, sweetie,” Aria reminded her. “We don’t want to make a mess.”

Florence did as she was told, leaning closer to the table before picking up the pastry by the wrapped part.

She took a bite from the top.

“Mmm!” she hummed, gulped and looked down at Cinny. “Your turn!”

She placed the threaded mouth by a blueberry.

“Num, num, num, num, num!” Florence yipped, simulating nibbles.

Aria giggled and went to take a bite from her own, but she couldn’t.

“What’s wrong, mommy?” Florence asked, her big brown eyes aimed at her.

Aria hesitated and said what came to mind:

“I-I think I heard a car outside.”

She got up and went for the hall.

Once she was out of sight, she hung her head down. Tears fell onto the hardwood floor as she strayed further from the room.

With her head down and vision blurred, she bumped into something.

She jumped back and saw what—or rather, _who_ —was in front of her.

“Angel?” Floyd looked confused at first.

Upon seeing her anguished face, he pulled her into his arms. “Angel, what’s wrong?”

“F-Floyd... you’re home early,” Aria quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

He gave her a gentle smile. “John said I made the quota for today and sent me home early.” 

“That’s g-great,” Aria hiccupped.

He switched back to being worried, his eyes searching hers. “Why the tears, angel?”

She sniffed and shook her head. “I was just thinking about... things.”

“What kind of things?” he asked, the concern in his voice not lifting.

“A-About the men...”

“Oh, Aria,” he took her in a hug and kissed her forehead.

He understood. 

Everyone else would tell her that it already happened and to just move on from it. They’d make some comment about boys being dumb and change the topic. 

Floyd never did. He saw how much it affected her. 

“Angel, look at me,” he rubbed her back.

When she did, he cupped one of her red cheeks and stroked it with his thumb.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

“No, I’m so ugly! They wouldn’t have done any of that if I wasn’t ugly!” Aria said louder than she’d intended. 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Florence? Mommy will be right back,” she said before going to sit on the bed she shared with Floyd.

Not long after, she heard a knock on the doorframe.

She turned around to where he was coming in, Florence in his arms—pink tutu, silver tiara, fairy wand and all.

Aria didn’t know what to say.

“M-Mommy?”

Her sweet voice sounded so sad, it broke Aria’s heart.

“Mommy doesn’t think she’s beautiful,” Floyd said when his daughter looked at him for an explanation. “Doesn’t mommy always tell you _you’re_ beautiful?”

She nodded, her tiara shifting slightly on her head. “Mommy say everyone is bootiful.”

Aria couldn’t resist grinning.

“So doesn’t that mean mommy is beautiful, too?” he asked Florence.

Again, she nodded.

Florence crawled onto Aria’s lap. “Mommy bootiful!”

Aria hugged her, tearing up when she felt a pair of little arms outstretched over her belly.

The little girl’s head tipped back, her bottom lip jutted out. “Mommy, don’t cry.”

“These are happy tears, sweetie,” Aria laughed a little. “And you’re ‘bootiful’, too.”

Florence pulled her tiara off, one of her curls getting stuck on the band for a second before falling out of place. She put it on Aria’s head.

“Here, mommy. You can be princess for today!” she bounced happily.

Aria fixed Florence’s brown ringlet and hugged her again, her chin resting on her head.

She looked over at Floyd.

“Would you like a muffin?”


End file.
